Amorphous, carbonaceous, diamond-like films, or films having diamond-like properties, are known. Such films are utilized, for example, as protective coatings for abrasive applications, such as coating on writing instruments, as anti-reflective coatings on a variety of substrates and as dielectric coatings for silicon or silicon-containing devices. Such films are particularly useful as coatings for optical lenses to increase their optical transmission or as coatings on mirrors to improve light reflectivity.
Amorphous, carbonaceous, diamond-like films having significantly improved properties are disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,519, issued Mar. 12, 1985, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. These films are characterized by markedly low stress, excellent adherence to a variety of substrates and by being extremely hard. The improved properties of these films are due, in large measure, to an extremely low hydrogen content.